Incorporation

The Woodlands should not incorporate because there is no reason to incorporate.

Fear of annexation by Houston is sometimes used to support incorporation. But Houston has agreed not to even attempt to annex The Woodlands until after 2058. And state law requires a majority of the registered voters in The Woodlands to approve annexation by Houston. As a result, there can be no annexation by Houston until after 2058 and then only if approved by the residents of The Woodlands.

Another reason advanced to support incorporation is to prevent the extension of Woodlands Parkway west of FM 2978. In 2015, the voters of Montgomery County rejected bonds to finance the westward extension of Woodlands Parkway. As a result, the County has abandoned efforts to extend Woodlands Parkway and instead acquired the right of way and commitments from private landowners to fund over 50% of the cost to build “Mansion Way” which will intersect with FM 2978 south of the Woodlands Parkway extension.

Not only is there no reason to incorporate, the price tag for incorporation is too high. All roads in The Woodlands are county roads that were built and are maintained using taxes paid by all residents of Montgomery County. If, however, the Township incorporated, the costs of maintaining our roads would be borne only by the residents of The Woodlands. We would lose the subsidy provided by Montgomery County taxpayers who do not live in The Woodlands. It is very difficult to estimate the exact cost of public works which would be paid solely by residents of The Woodlands, but one study found that the cost would average over $17,000,000.00 over the first ten years after incorporation.

Flooding

The most recent major flooding event in The Woodlands was Hurricane Harvey when about 350 homes in the Timarron and Timarron Lakes section of Creekside Park flooded when Spring Creek overflowed its banks due to the torrential rains from Harvey. Unfortunately, little has happened since Harvey struck in 2017 to mitigate the effects of future floods.

In 2016 the Township created a Drainage Taskforce made up of representatives from The Woodlands Joint Powers Agency, four MUDs, Montgomery County Precincts 2 and 3, The Woodlands Development Company, the Township, the Village Associations and the San Jacinto River Authority. At the time the Drainage Taskforce was created in 2016 and still today, no agency is responsible for the entire Spring Creek watershed.

The most recent meeting of the Drainage Task Force for which minutes are available was on June 25, 2019. The minutes reflect that almost two years after Harvey, the members of the Task Force agreed that the most appropriate and expeditious way to go forward is to start with a $100,000.00 site feasibility study.

Flood mitigation is a complicated and expensive undertaking that requires the cooperation of all agencies with jurisdiction over the Spring Creek watershed. The Township should be congratulated for at least creating the Drainage Task Force and attempting to bring all relevant agencies together to work cooperatively to address flooding in The Woodlands.

But the Township could and should do much more than just convene meetings. The Township has an “incorporation reserve” which is holding more than $16,000,000.00 in case the Township is incorporated and has a separate reserve of over $5,000,000.00 for a new city hall. But as explained above, there is no reason to incorporate and thus no reason to reserve any funds for a city hall or to cover costs of incorporation. The Township should use its incorporation reserve and city hall reserve for projects that benefit the residents of The Woodlands such as funding the $100,000.00 required for the site feasibility study discussed above.

Community Assets

The Township should accelerate its negotiations with The Woodlands Development Company and Howard Hughes to acquire certain “Community Assets” owned by the Development Company or Hughes. The Township has been working on this project, but completion of these negotiations should have a higher priority.

By “Community Assets,” I mean property and rights owned by the Development Company or Hughes that should be transferred to the Township as the representative of the residents of The Woodlands. These assets include, for example, the ownership of Lake Woodlands and the Waterway, public art and the right to change land use designations.

The Township currently leases Lake Woodlands and the Waterway from the Development Company. These bodies of water should be owned by the Township. The monumental public art throughout The Woodlands belongs to the Development Company but should be owned by the Township.

As time passes, the highest and best use of land in The Woodlands may change. All land in The Woodlands is restricted to a particular use when the land is first sold by the Development Company. For example, originally 5-acre church sites were created next to a school parking lot for sale to religious congregations. These sites were restricted to non-profit use when the land was first sold. Fifty or more years in the future, however, the highest and best use of some five-acre church sites, for example, may no longer be a non-profit use. These sites may be better suited for residential use, for example. But before land restricted to non-profit use can be used for another purpose, the land-use designation must be changed by the Development Company or its future successors. The right to change the use of land in The Woodlands should be controlled by the Township and its elected officials for the benefit of the residents of The Woodlands and not be a private corporation.

Obtaining ownership of these Community Assets will be the result of negotiation with the Development Company and it may take years to accomplish. But time is probably not on our side in these negotiations. At some point in the future, the Development Company will have sold or developed all the land in The Woodlands, and it may sell some or all of these Community Assets. Once title to a Community Asset passes to a new owner with no ties or relationship to The Woodlands, the Township will find it very difficult to negotiate a purchase of the asset from the new owner.